Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. The Gone Cole Podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.

Listener discretion is The Gone Cole Podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.

Listener discretion is advised.

Mary Josephine Moore Seerite was born and raised in Paris, Texas before going off to college

at the University of Texas in Austin.

The daughter of an influential and powerful judge, she married the son of an incredibly

prominent cattle rancher.

Dan Seeright didn't follow in his father's footsteps and instead went on to become the vice president

and board member of the Walter Tips Company, an enterprising general store that sold everything from iron pots and pans to cotton gins, headquartered in Austin.

Mary and Dan Seeright became a prominent and influential couple in their own right.

Mary wasn't your typical socialite, however.

In fact, she chose to focus on philanthropic endeavors that most often helped preserve and maintain nature. and up feeding on a silver spoon, but the hardworking and sometimes downright dirty life of

a rancher had Mary Seerwright much more in her element than boring parties schmoozing

with the stuffy Austin elite. She and Dan were ahead of their time in many ways

too, including their encouragement of the inclusion and growth of all cultures and peoples in their city.

Dan was considerably older than Mary, and after his death in 1958 at age 70, she became a widow at age 49. She'd never marry again, and for 30 years she was a rugged pistol-packing rancher who preferred

blue jeans and dusty boots to ball gowns and high heels.

She lived in a small ranch house without indoor plumbing on her more than 344 acre

ranch, prime real estate that developers wanted a giant piece of badly, but Mary would never sell.

Instead, when her body no longer allowed her to live the almost pioneer lifestyle she loved.

Mary Moore Seywright donated more than two-thirds of it

to the city of Austin, but with a catch,

...